Miranda's Pokemon Journey
by Jerry Toh
Summary: Miranda; a simple girl is about to embark on her pokemon journey from her birthplace at a pokemon day care in the unique Zinna Region. However, something sinster is on the horizon
1. Chapter 1

The crimson horizon signaled the start of a brand new day. Sunlight filled the former dark sky with abundance of colors. Across the sea and mountains lies a region that had not been highlighted; there was no pokemon league or proper research facility setup yet. It was known as the Zinna Region. Regardless of the slow process of developing the region, people and pokemon were still living together.

Outside the modern city named: Windfall City, stationed a day care center. This particular day care center was also a pokemon ranch. A young nine year old girl who was wearing her pink pajamas currently; she was soon to be ten years old and to start on her pokemon journey. Her name was Miranda. She has chestnut brown hair, flowing freely down from her head and an average body figure. An aroma waved through the air and into Miranda's nose. She slowly stirred from her bed and got up; as she stretched herself out, she took a glance out the window. It was a bright new day of working with all the newly hatched pokemon and her beloved Ponyta that she had nicknamed as Ruby. She wasted no time in changing out of her nightclothes and into her white-purple shirt and her black skirt. She grabbed her straw hat as well as her bag and headed downstairs; longing to see what was for breakfast.

The succulent smell got stronger as she reached the dining room, Miranda's mother was busy frying eggs and making sandwiches.

"Good Morning!" Miranda called as she sat down. "What had Dad been up to last night?" The mother smiled at her precious daughter but in reality, was wondering the same thing herself. Miranda's father was a make-shift pokemon researcher; he often conducted strange experiment in the ranch's basement.

"It was nothing for you to worry about." Miranda's mother assured Miranda as they ate the freshly made breakfast together. Today was Miranda's tenth birthday and after that she was entitled to her first pokemon and to set off on her pokemon journey. Miranda had a lot of chores to do around the ranch and the day-care; she had to feed all of the pokemon in the ranch and then do an inspection on all of the pokemon under the day-care. "You have a lot to do, so I will see you later today."

Miranda wore her straw hat and went out into the sun-shine. She whistled and then Ruby came galloping towards her. Ruby neighed at her best friend; they had been together since Miranda met her since she was younger. Miranda patted Ruby gently; the fiery mane felt warm to the touch but not hot. Miranda got onto Ruby's back.

"Come on Ruby, let's go see everyone!" Miranda said as they rode to the barn. Inside the barn was several pokemon that had her family had risen. Miranda dismounted Ruby and got the pokemon food from the storage. Taking it by buckets, she poured it in the manger for all of pokemon to enjoy. Ruby gently bumped Miranda with her muzzle. "Oh silly me, you haven't eaten yet." Miranda took out Ruby's special pokemon food that she had personally made and fed her by hand.

Soon she went and inspected the Day-care pokemon. She was normally not allowed to tend to the day-care pokemon as they might be aggressive towards her or were very mischievous. The inspection was to check whether there was any pokemon had fallen ill or hurt. Today, there were a few with a slight fever so Miranda brought them in for treatment. Just as Miranda came out to the field again, she met her father.

"Hey dad! Whatever you were doing in that lab, can you keep it down?" Miranda called at him. He shyly scratched his head while he approached her.

"Hey Miranda, you are a big girl now, huh?" The father teased her little girl. "Can you help me with a small errand?"

"Sure what do you need? Ruby and I will get it for you." Miranda responded and Ruby came to her side.

"I need some electronic parts, do you think you can slip away to the abandoned lab ruins and get me some?"

Miranda did not reply immediately; her mother had warned her about the wild pokemon that might be lurking around the electric ruins. Her father had always asked her to do these mysterious errands and since she was young and naïve, she did them without giving a second thought.

"Fine I will go get more parts, but keep Mom busy… she would worry if she knew." Miranda responded carefully. She quickly got on Ruby and they left silently through the side gate. She always had a strange sensation whenever she went to the ruins. It was as if there was someone waiting for her to discover them. She arrived quickly at the ruins as it was quite close by.

"Come on, Ruby. Let's find those parts before any pokemon decides to attack you and me." Miranda told Ruby as they looked around carefully for any parts that might be useful. The ruins were formally a secret organization's research facility but were destroyed in an explosion which its source was unknown. Miranda had not ventured anywhere deep and just savaged the parts that she can find in the open. But there was not any more part left there. They looked through the afternoon and it was nearing dusk. Ruby nudged Miranda, pointing her head the direction of the structure. "Ruby… we can't go in there… but."

Miranda knew it herself: if she wanted to find the parts, she needs to go into the building. The dark confines seem to be calling out to Miranda. They step lightly as they entered; the place lit up by the fire mane. To Miranda's luck, there were a lot of parts lying around and she stared to gather as many as she could. Unknown to Miranda, there were pokemon, who already made the place their home, hidden amongst the shadows. Ruby, however, noticed and tried to warn Miranda.

"What is it, girl?" Miranda said to Ruby and she nudged her again. Miranda acquired sufficient parts and they were about to leave. "Come on, this place gives me the creeps." However, a couple of Modicale came out when they reached the outside. Modicales are known as the Circuit-board pokemon; they look like over-sized levitating capacitors. Ruby came out to protect Miranda but they were out-numbered. "Oh no… I was afraid of this…" Miranda has no battling experience so she was completely clueless what to do. The Modicale used their thundershock and Ruby dodged it but things were looking worse by the second.

"Someone help us!" Miranda yelled and then the Modicales backed off as something came. It was a pokemon but Miranda could not see what it was. It chased away the attackers and then departed. All Miranda could remember was that it had a canine body shape. Ruby was startled as well; they slowly made their way back. Dusk had started and Miranda had a bad feeling that her Mum may had found out where she had gone.

"What were you think? What if she had gotten into trouble?" Miranda heard her mother yelled at the top of her shrill voice.

"She is a big girl, I am sure she can handle!" she heard her father replied. "Ruby would keep her out of harm's way."

"What if…?" Before she could finish, Miranda came in with the parts since that her mother knew. Miranda passed them to her father who went back to the basement. Miranda celebrated her birthday as if nothing happened. Ruby got a thankful amount of food for helping Miranda and soon everyone went to sleep.

Late at night, Miranda's father sneaked into Miranda's room. Something was amiss; Miranda was then carried down and into the basement. There was already a machine setup ready; there were two glass cubicles, one already contained a pokemon egg. Miranda was then placed in the other.

"Sorry, Miranda… but this is my life's work and I need to know if it works…" Miranda's father responded to himself. "Now to get this thing running… running Spirit Link program." As it ran, some mysterious medium flowed around Miranda and the egg. The two substances flowed across and mixed with each other. Soon there was an error; a critical error, the machine was about to explode. Miranda's father quickly got Miranda and the egg out the machine and ran for it. The explosion caused everyone nearby to be woken up, lucky there was no fire. Miranda strangely lost consciousness; otherwise she would have woken up. The rest of the night remained a mystery.

Miranda woke up and then notice that she had been sleeping for two days. Miranda felt strange; her head has been giving her stabbing pain since she woke up. She changed once again into her day-wear before going down, only to find her mother sipping tea.

"Miranda! You are finally awake; I was worried that you never wake up. I prepared your bag for you." Her mother told her as she came down. Miranda noticed that her mother's tone was strange too. Inside her bag was a lot of handy equipment such as: tent equipment, sleeping bag, her five pokeballs, and the letter for any of the professor, a grinder, a few books and finally the PokePad. PokePad was a slim device that has several functions. It was designed to ease a trainer of carrying too many devices at once.

"I added my number to the Pokepad, so call if you feel home-sick." Miranda's mother told her, "I also packed you a lunch box; and this is Ruby's pokeball. There is also… this egg from your father." She then got the egg case with the egg from the incident a few nights ago. "Be careful…"

Miranda soon got out of the house and got onto Ruby. Miranda felt complete different from the day of her birthday. That day, she would have been much braver and enthusiastic about this day but today she could not even mutter a single word. Ruby looked at Miranda, worrying about her.

"Are you alright?" Miranda heard. She looked everywhere to find the speaker but he was nowhere in sight. "What are you looking for? Aren't you ready for this journey?" Miranda then looked at Ruby.

"Wait, are you the one who talked?"

"Yes, wait a moment… you can hear what I said?" Ruby replied. There was something very bizarre; Miranda suddenly could understand what Ruby was saying, in fact she can understand what pokemon were saying.

"Well this is cool, I can finally understand you! Well let's get going…" Miranda said and they slowly went forward. The walked down the pathway that led to the Plains; Miranda was still thinking about the pokemon she wanted to choose. "Hey who do you think would make a great partner?" Miranda slowly described each other the starters.

"Miranda, you can't really ask me. I am a little favorable to fire types like myself." Ruby laughed at her. "Well I don't mind a grass type… but water types are pretty good too." Miranda took out the PokePad; there was an application for helping beginners choosing a starter. It was based on a personality quiz.

"Well we will take a while to reach the city, so take your time with that quiz." Ruby replied. Miranda slowly did it; the future looks uncertain but she was confident that she could succeed in whatever she set her mind to. She did not know why she could understand pokemon speech suddenly; but it would take more than that to slow her down.


	2. Chapter 2

Miranda and her Ponyta, Ruby, arrived at Windfall City. Miranda had not really been in the city very often so she was little lost; she simply let Ruby wander and hopefully find the place they need to go; the colossal skyscrapers stood tall and huge televisions on the side of the building.

"Where do you think this pier is?" Miranda asked Ruby; they had been out for about half an hour. They were at the park and Miranda was waiting for Ruby to finish taking a drink. Miranda continued to check up the respective starter pokemon on her PokePad; she kept looking at a Unova Starter: Snivy. "This pokemon looks pretty cool." Ruby strolled over and saw it was a grass type starter.

"Yeah he's great for a beginner like you." Ruby said; some passer-by was looking at them queerly, only Miranda could understand Ruby so it was not too strange at all for the both of them. Miranda then noticed that there was a Map function installed on her PokePad; she tapped the icon, the screen changed and displaying one word: scanning.

"Wow that's one useful little advanced piece of technology!" Miranda commented; the screen soon showed their location as a blue dot. "I personally like to be displayed as a purple dot…" Miranda entered the words: Windfall Ferry into the search tab and it searched the database for a second. The screen then reverted back to the Map with a new marking on the Map; the Ferry was directly due south of their present location.

"Really wished that you noticed that Map in your little device." Ruby said as they got on the road again. As Miranda and Ruby reached the side of the sea, a Shadow Ball came whizzing by dangerously and impacting uncomfortably close. "What's the big idea?" Miranda turned to see a Gengar and two particular looking people with a strange uniform. It was a silver and white shirt that bore a symbol that Miranda had never seen before; they also wore very futuristic helmets that masked the face; these people also wore a strange device on their arm and they were using it to scan Miranda.

"Is that the target?" one of them asked, the other nodded. "Alright Gengar, Night Shade and make it snappy!" Miranda leapt off Ruby in an acrobatic display and they were in their first pokemon battle. The Night Shade came rushing through the air; Ruby barely dodged it.

"Ruby, don't back down like that! Let's show them a Ember attack!" Miranda commanded, Ruby unleash a wave of flames and it hit squarely on Gengar. The two men were taken back as they did not expect her to fight back; the other man released his Seaking into the sea. "So they are not keeping it fair, well, no matter! Ruby let's try a Fire Spin on Gengar!"

The other guys were not going to take it easy on Miranda; they ordered Gengar and Seaking to use Confuse Ray and Water gun respectively. Ruby got confused and due to that was hit directly with the Water Gun. Being incredibly weak to water attacks, Ruby was hurt rather badly. Miranda saw that Ruby was in a bad condition and she does not want her friend to get hurt.

"Ruby, return; you did great…" Miranda said as she returned Ruby to her pokeball but she was now defenseless against two pokemon. Gengar used Telekinesis and lifted Miranda into the air. Seaking then unleashed a Supersonic attack on Miranda. Miranda's ears hurt with the high-pitch sounds, she had not even started her journey and she was being tracked by two men who she assumed was going to kidnap her for their reasons. Darkness was slowly enveloping around Miranda. Suddenly she felt something hit her body and she heard someone but could not recognize the voice so she just fainted.

"Hey! Miranda, wake up!" someone yelled and was lightly tapping her face as well. Miranda groaned as light shone into her eyes; she tried to refocus them onto the irregular shapes before her. She recalled what had happened and then panicked so sat up quickly. Her forehead banged into something hard: someone's skull. "Ouch, what was that for? Since when do humans know how to use head butt anyway?" Miranda blinked hard once before she realized that she had just whacked her head into a Pokemon Ranger.

"Oh I am sorry… wait, how did you know my name?" Miranda said in curiosity. The Pokemon Ranger scratched the back of his head and laughed very hard. Miranda thought that he was vaguely familiar but could not clarify. "Have I met you before?"

"Oh my goodness, Miranda! Are you still so slow? I know having a big forehead like yours was heavy but you don't have to go so slow." The ranger teased and it jogged Miranda's memory.

"You're Charles, aren't you? It had been a long time!" Miranda said, finally remembering. Charles and Miranda met back when they were younger; their parents knew each other as Charles's father was a regular customer at the day-care. "I still remember the time that your father gave you that egg from so long… how has it been?"

"Oh you will be surprised! Crimson, are you nearby?" Charles called out and almost immediately, a Riolu came somersaulting into view before respectfully bowing to the both of them.

"You summoned me, master?" Crimson responded, however, only Miranda understood and Charles was still clueless.

"Crimson, I told you that you can just walk in like any other pokemon! Well either way, this is Miranda and you might remember her…" Charles introduced. Crimson wore a piece of cloth wrapped around his neck and his eyes were a blazing red as well. Crimson stared at Miranda for short time before he looked at Charles. "Guess you can't remember, she help take care of you when you were still an egg." Crimson heard then gave another respectful bow to Miranda.

"Crimson is really handsome, he is almost like his father when he was staying at the day-care." Miranda commented as she gently stroked Crimson's head in a fashion that he found extremely comfortable. Crimson gave a small smile as he was treated that way.

"Wow you are really great at handling pokemon: Crimson was always giving me the cold shoulder but with you, he just opens up with a flower." Charles praised as he sat beside Miranda. "Where are you headed by the way?" That revelation stuck Miranda hard, she looked up at the arrival and departure times and there was only one vessel felt for the afternoon trips: the ferry to Kanto. She had intended to go to Unova to pick up a starter but looks like she had to go to Kanto instead.

"Guess I am heading to Kanto… I intended to go to Unova to pick up a starter there." Miranda elaborated to Charles of her plans. "Wait; do you have Professor Juniper's number?" Miranda had her eyes wide open and staring at Charles without blinking. Charles grinned and turned on his stylus. The Ranger device was one of the most technological advanced of its kind; Charles made a phone call to Professor Juniper at her laboratory.

"Hello Charles. How can I help you?" Professor Juniper asked kindly through the phone; Miranda looked at the footage from the video feed. "Oh? And who might this be?"

"Good day, professor. This is Miranda, a new pokemon trainer, who had just started on her journey. Unfortunately, she wanted to head to Unova to get her starter pokemon but that Team Sonic had interfered so she missed the ferry."

"Oh I understand; don't worry Miranda, I will send the pokemon of your choice to Professor Oak at Pallet town for you. So now which one of these three would you like?" As Juniper had finished, three pokemon crowded around the screen. Miranda had already made her choice.

"I had already decided: I will take Snivy!" Miranda said to the stylus. The other two pokemon went back disappointed; Snivy was still at the screen and gave Miranda a wink.

"Alright, I will send Snivy over," Juniper replied and gave her trademark goodbye before the communication ended. Miranda thanked Charles and went to get her pass for the ride. Crimson was staring at his master with his suspicious looking eyes; Charles noticed that and pretended to not notice. Crimson gave a small cough that could have been mistaken for a laugh.

Since the ferry would be leaving shortly, Miranda and Charles board the vessel. It was almost like a luxury cruise ship with its massive halls and rooms; the deck filled with assorted activities for the passengers' contentment. Dusk was nearly approaching as Miranda and Charles found a place to sit for a while; Miranda had taken out her new pokemon egg and started to polish it gently. Charles was trying to feed Crimson his pokemon food but Crimson was not too interested instead was more focused on the food that Miranda was taking out. He leapt near Miranda and sniffed the food; Miranda noticed as Charles came nearer. Crimson evaded Charles grasp quickly.

"Hey stop, Charles." Miranda said and the both of them stopped. "Give me a sample of that food?" Charles gave her one of the tablets and she examined them. "Is this supposed to be for Crimson?"

"Yeah, it was," Charles replied and Miranda shook her head. "What's wrong?" Miranda slowly described to him what was wrong with the food and that Crimson would not like it. Miranda fed Crimson some of her batch that was somewhat more appealing. "So when you make your food, don't just consider the nutrients only but the taste and texture as well."

"Wow you sure know a lot about pokemon and their food." Charles commented and Miranda did not realize it before but was nonetheless grateful that someone said that. Miranda had earlier passed Ruby to Nurse Joy for treatment from the battle earlier and now was feeding her. "So you are going to take on the gyms in the Kanto region?"

Miranda had never given any thought of what she wanted to do in Kanto; there many pathways that she could pursue and any one of them would make an excellent adventure. Since Miranda was just starting out, she thought she could try at least one of the paths and see where she fit in best. The most popular choices include being a Trainer or Coordinator; others include being a Breeder or Doctor or even a Researcher.

"Well I haven't truly decided but I think being a trainer would help me discover who I want to be." Miranda replied as she soothing stroked both Ruby and Crimson as they both ate. Charles could not help but be impressed at how Miranda handles pokemon; suddenly the Egg that Miranda was holding stirred. "Oh it moved?" Miranda was getting excited as it was nearing the time where another friend would be born like she saw in the Day-Care. The Egg started to glow slightly in a repetitive fashion; it attracted some passing trainers' attentions. Soon the shell of the egg cracked and an Eevee came out. Eevee looked at Miranda for a while and Miranda looked back at it with minimal blinking as she could. And to her surprise, the eevee leapt off of her lap and to her shoulder. Miranda reacted quickly enough to catch and prevent it from falling. The Eevee licked Miranda passionately; Miranda's heart melted at the kind of affection.

"Aw she thinks I am her mother…" Miranda commented as she placed Eevee back down on her lap. "Charles, can you take care of Ruby? I need to take Laura here to see Nurse Joy."

"Laura? You are calling that Eevee with such a name? Wouldn't a name like Danny or Kim be a better name?" Charles suggested as Miranda got up with Laura wrapped around in her arms. Miranda looked at him and laughed.

"This Eevee is a girl and Kim just sounds terrible." Miranda replied before she left to see Nurse Joy. Laura could not stay still for a second while getting the check-up; Nurse Joy was having a hard time giving her a thorough examination. Miranda had to hold Laura still as Nurse Joy did her work. Miranda petted Laura between the ears and it was so comfortable that Laura just wanted to sleep.

"Thank you for the help, Laura is very healthy and she is growing up well." Nurse Joy said and Miranda took her leave after giving her thanks. On her way back to Charles, she passed by a photogenic view of the sun-set by the ocean horizon. Both Laura and Miranda's eyes glistened at the sight of the majesty of Mother Nature's numerous miracles. Soon Miranda looked down at Laura.

"Hey Laura," Miranda whispered to her new Eevee. "Our journey has just begun."


End file.
